Abstract
Miura S, Satake M, Tamura Y, Ikeda M, Kawagoshi A, Sugawara K, Takahashi H, Homma M, Sakata S, Shioya T. Evaluation of walking time according to walking speed using a triaxial accelerometer system. Jpn J Compr Rehabil Sci 2013; 4: 73-79.
Purpose: The primary purpose of this study was to quantify the walking time in daily life as slow and fast walking times using a newly improved triaxial accelerometer system. The secondary purpose was to study the slow and fast walking times of healthy young and elderly adults and stable patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) using this system.
Methods: Twenty-six healthy young subjects, 15 healthy elderly adults, and 11 stable COPD patients participated in this study. The subjects’ time spent walking, standing, sitting, and lying down were assessed using an activity monitoring and evaluation system (A-MESTM). We evaluated the slow and fast walking times according to changes in the detection threshold in the system’s software.
Results: The distinguishing speed was found to be 2 km/h, and thus we divided the subjects’ walking time into slow (<2 km/h) and fast (≥2 km/h) walking using 2 km/h to distinguish the speed. Ninety-five percent of the walking measured by the A-MESTM was slow walking. The fast walking time of the stable COPD patients was significantly shorter than that of the healthy young and elderly adults (p<0.01).
Conclusion: These results suggest that walking time in daily life can be differentiated as slow (<2 km/h) and fast (≥2 km/h) walking using a new triaxial accelerometer system.
